Amazing 2020 Summer Olympic Village in Japan!

The much anticipated 2020 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, “Tokyo 2020”, is fast approaching. The international multi-sport event is scheduled to take place from the 24th of July to the 9th of August next year in Japan’s capital.

Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2013. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will be the second time since 1964, and the 4th overall Olympics to be held in Japan with the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics and the last one being the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. As early as 2012, the central venue for the 1964 Summer Olympics, the National Stadium, was determined to be demolished and reconstructed.

From “Tsukishima Number 4” to one of Tokyo’s biggest development projects

The once underdeveloped land called “Tsukishima Number 4” in the Harumi area in the Chuo Ward of Tokyo is the site of the 2020 Olympic Village. It was a section of land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay using sand and earth dredged from the mouth of the Sumidagawa river during the early Showa era (1926-1989).

In the mid-1930’s, the reclaimed land had a mere population of 16 people but today the number has grown to 14,500 people. Prior to World War II, there were grand plans of holding the world exposition as well as talks of moving the Tokyo government buildings in the area. Both plans came to a sudden halt when the land was used as an airfield by the Occupation Forces after the war.

The Harumi Apartment Housing project, a 10-story reinforced concrete building with 168 apartments and the very first elevator ever installed by the Japan Housing Corporation was completed in the area in 1958. This became a model of high-rise housing.

The Olympic Village will be home to more than 10,000 athletes coming from all around the world.

Olympic Village and beyond

The overhauling of the 13.9 hectare site in the Harumi 5-Chome neighborhood is one of Tokyo’s most ambitious projects for the 2020 Games. After the event, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic athletes village will be renovated and sold off as condominiums to the public with sales beginning as early as May 2019. The Olympic Village site will be converted into a residential sub-division that can house as many as 12,000 people in 5,600 apartments spread over 23 residential buildings. The high-rise structures will range from 14 to 18 stories high with one commercial facility. The project is branded HARUMI FLAG, which emphasizes the developers’ goal of the endeavor being the flagship development for all of Tokyo.